Saint Distaff's Day, England, from the Holidays series (N80) for Duke brand cigarettes 1890

This small chromolithograph was printed by W. Duke, Sons & Co. sometime between 1870 and 1920, as part of a series advertising Duke brand cigarettes. Chromolithography involved using multiple limestone blocks, each inked with a different color, to build up a layered image. Here, the process creates soft gradations of tone, rendering a romanticized scene of English laborers celebrating ‘Saint Distaff’s Day’. Traditionally observed on January 7th, it marked the end of the Christmas holiday and a return to work for women spinning flax, with men playfully disrupting their labor. These small cards would have been printed in mass quantities, slipped into cigarette packs as collectible premiums. The industrial printing process, and the consumer product being advertised, contrasts sharply with the image's nostalgic portrayal of rural craft. Such commercial images reflect a wider trend: the romanticization of pre-industrial labor even as it was being displaced by new technologies. By considering the materials, and the way the print was made, we see how industry engages with culture, shaping both production and consumption.